The 82nd Annual Columbus Day Parade returns to Fifth Avenue on Monday, October 12, turning Midtown Manhattan into a sea of flags, floats and marching bands for a celebration organizers say marks 250 years of Italian contribution to America. This year's grand marshal is Ray Dalio, the Bridgewater Associates founder and philanthropist whose own roots trace back to a working-class corner of Queens.
According to WABC-TV New York, the parade is organized by the Columbus Citizens Foundation as part of a three-day celebration of Italian-American heritage, culture and community. The station reports Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates and is widely known as a philanthropist; he is this year's grand marshal, leading the march up Fifth Avenue. Per Wikipedia, Dalio was born Raymond Thomas Dallolio in 1949 in Jackson Heights to Italian-American parents, including a father who worked as a Manhattan jazz musician, long before he built one of the world's largest hedge funds.
A Weekend of Scholarships and Remembrance
The parade caps a weekend of foundation events, including a gala held to raise scholarship funds and a wreath-laying ceremony honoring civil servants and first responders, per the station's report. The foundation announced it has awarded nearly $40 million in scholarships to students of Italian heritage, money organizers say has helped recipients succeed in their studies and give back to their communities.
One beneficiary, Anthony Lisi, is now a first-year medical student at Jefferson University in Philadelphia after receiving a scholarship from the foundation, the same report notes. Lisi is the first person in his family to attend college, and he has said he embraces his grandfather's message about standing on the shoulders of those who came before him. The Columbus Citizens Foundation also runs targeted medical education grants, including the Dr. Anthony S. Fauci Medical School Scholarship introduced in 2021, according to a Columbus Citizens Foundation publication.
From Fifth Avenue Spectacle to a 1944 Civic Mission
The parade itself is a massive logistical undertaking. It marches up Fifth Avenue from 47th Street to 72nd Street, featuring over 35,000 marchers, dozens of marching bands and more than 100 participating groups, drawing as many as one million spectators along the route, according to CBS News. ABC 7 New York plans live parade coverage on Channel 7 and its streaming platforms starting at noon Monday, with Sandra Bookmand anchoring alongside Mike Marza, Kemberly Richardson and Anthony Carlo.
The foundation behind it all traces back to 1944, when it was established as the Columbus Citizens Committee by Italian-American leaders, including publisher Generoso Pope and Judge S. Samuel Di Falco, to memorialize the contributions of Italian ancestors, per the Columbus Citizens Foundation. Its headquarters sits at 8 East 69th Street in an Upper East Side townhouse built in 1892, designed by Peabody & Stearns for industrialist Charles L. Colby.
Monday's march will also be preceded by the 49th Annual Columbus Day Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue at 9:30 a.m., celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, according to the Archdiocese of New York. The holiday itself became a federal observance in 1937, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared Columbus Day a national holiday following sustained campaigns by Italian-American fraternal and civic organizations.
A Holiday With Two Names and a Changing City
Not every institution marks the day the same way. New York City Public Schools officially observe the holiday as Italian Heritage/Indigenous Peoples' Day on the system's 2026-2027 calendar, keeping schools closed on October 12, according to Schools.nyc.gov.
New York remains the epicenter of Italian-American identity nationally, with over 2.2 million residents claiming Italian ancestry, more than any other state, according to the National Italian American Foundation. Yet the geography of that identity has shifted inside the five boroughs. Manhattan's historic Little Italy on Mulberry Street now has an Italian-ancestry population of less than 3%, while the Rossville neighborhood on Staten Island holds the city's highest concentration at 59%, per a 2020 census analysis reported by TalkRadio 77 WABC. Fifth Avenue remains the symbolic stage for Monday's festivities even as the city's Italian-American population has largely settled into outer-borough neighborhoods far from Mulberry Street.
